The following invention relates to a method and apparatus for connecting an integrated circuit chip to an etched circuit board utilizing pressure contact without the need for soldering or wire bonding.
In any application in which an integrated circuit chip is used, electrical connection must be made between the various contact points on the chip and the remaining elements of the circuit or system in which the chip is used. Typically such electrical connections are made by either soldering the bond pads that normally occur on the chip to the etched circuit boards or other circuit elements or by wire bonding. Both processes are complex and uneconomical since each takes a considerable amount of time, and since integrated circuit chips, once in place according to either process, cannot be easily removed or replaced if defective.
In the past, sets of electrical conductors have been connected together by the use of pressure contact between a pair of etched circuit boards or between an etched circuit board and a flexible interconnecting circuit board. An example of such a device is shown in Reardon U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,310 issued Nov. 14, 1978. The device of the Reardon patent is an electrical connector comprising a pair of wafers having corresponding patterns of interlayed conductors which are pressed together to make an electrical connection. The Reardon patent, however, does not attempt to solve the problem of how to connect integrated circuits to an etched circuit board in a purely mechanical manner so that the integrated circuit may be removed or replaced without the necessity of soldering or bonding.